A MAN who had been kicked out by his partner spent a December night sleeping in a garden shed.

But when he woke up in the early hours of the morning he was so cold and stiff he decided to try to get into the house.

Flintshire Magistrates Court heard that when Nathan Cadwalader Graham, 27, tried to get in through the patio door, a double-glazed unit smashed.

His partner, Adele Morris, rang the police when he refused to leave and officers who arrived could not immediately find him.

They searched the property in Cae'r Fron on the Strand Estate at Holywell and found him hiding under the insulation in the loft area of the house.

Graham, of Old Chester Road, Holywell, who is now reconciled with Miss Morris, admitted criminal damage.

He ended up with a &#xA3;305 court bill after he was fined &#xA3;100, ordered to pay &#xA3;150 compensation and &#xA3;55 prosecution costs.

The court heard how the couple had a six-year relationship and had two children.

The relationship came to an end, he was asked to leave and had been sleeping rough, but the day before the incident he had been allowed in to see his son.

That night he saw his former partner in a pub and then after she returned home he rang the bell and asked to be allowed in.

Police arrived and escorted him from the house, and he was told to stay away.

But that night he slept in the garden shed and broke the double-glazed unit in the patio door in the early hours of the morning.

Crown prosecutor Huw Evans said that when police found him hiding in the loft he was arrested.

Defending solicitor Mark Arden said his client had not deliberately broken the window. He wanted somewhere warm to sleep, and the window broke as he was trying to get in. It had been a reckless rather than a deliberate act.

His client had previously had problems with drugs but had detoxified. He was on Jobseeker's Allowance and was now living back with his girlfriend.